kendrick



No. 609,03I. Patented Allg. I6, |898.

A. B. KENDBICK.

ELASTIC STOGKING.

(Application led May 5, 1897.) (Specimens.) 2 sham-sheet l.

Witnesses. Inventor.

f o wx WMC@ g 'rHr Norms PETERS au, Puofmumn.. wraumwon. u4 c.

No. 609,03L` Patented Aug. I6, |898.. A. B. KENDRICK.

ELASTIO STUCKING.

(Application led Hay 5, 1897.) (SPW'MHSJ 2 sheets sheet 2.

w. .MN N

l ilNitrnlD" STATES PATENT i tinten,

ARTIIUR B. KENDRICK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES R. KENDRICK, OF SAME PLACE.

ELASTIC STOCKING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters :Patent N9; eoaosi, dated August 1e, 189s.;

Application nea nay 5, 18

To all whom/t may concern:

.Be it known that I, ARTHUR B. KENDRICK, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elastic Stockings and the Like, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l is a plan view of the stockingblank, one-half of which being in dotted outline. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of parts shown in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of the complete stocking. Fig 4f is a plan view showing a stocking-blank as usually made prior to my invention, and Fig. 5 is a similar View of a stocking made from such blank.

This invention relates to that well-known kind or class of elastic stockings, generally used for surgical purposes, which are made from a knit fabric withtransversely-disposed rubber weft-threads, Heretofore it has been customary to make the heel and instep portions of the blank for such stockings of several parts or pieces joined to the lower part 0f the ankle-portion, the free ends of such parts being afterward sewed together to form the heel and instep portions or a part thereof. A usual method employed in making stockings of this character is to make the flat blank upon a suitable machine-such, for example, as that shown in the United States Patent No. 576,376, of Freeman Raven, of February 2, l897-with rectangular heel-forming aps l and 2 or extensions at each side of the lower part of the blank and a middle or instepforming flap or extension 3, that extends downwardly past the said vside flaps and laterally on one side some distance beyond the edge of the blank, the connection of the several naps with the main body of the blank being substantially on the same transverse line, but they are otherwise disconnected. One of the side flaps l overlaps a part of the middle iiap and the other side ap 2 extends downwardly past about one-half the length of the middle flap 3.

In forming the stocking the main body of the blank--that is, the leg and ankle partsm are brought together and united by sewing, as

97. sentira. 635,159; (specimens.)

shown at 5, and the free lateral edges 6 of the middle flap are brought together and sewed, and the free inner edges l and 2 ofthe side iiaps are brought around and sewed to the contiguous upperjedge of the middle flap. When the parts are thus united, it leaves an opening 7 in the heel portion of the stocking. Usually the seams are reinforced by tapes S, sewed to the fabric by a double line of 6o stitches. The bringingtogether and sewing the edges of the several parts requires considerable time, and although the elastic weftthreads are parallelinthe blank when the stocking is made and worn. the threads of the aforesaid middle-nap portionare quite or nearlyr at right angles to those of the sideflap portions. In addition to this the sewed connections of the sidev flaps with the middle iiap are inelastic. For the foregoing reasons 7o the described usual construction is comparatively objectionable.

The object of my invention is to simplify the making of stockings ofthe class recited, to obviate the aforesaid objections, and to provide a better and more desirable elastic stocking than any heretofore known to me.

To this end I make the stocking-blank a in the form shown invFigs. l and 2 of the accompanying drawings. The legh and ankle c 8o portions are formed in the usual way; but whenI come to the upper part of theheel' portion I make on each side a triangular part orgore d, that extends nearlytothe middle line a; oc of the blank, as clearly seen in Fig. 1, in which gore the rubber weft-threads, although parallel with each other, areat an angle to those of the preceding parts of the blank and also to the instep portion e, which I propose to make in the form shown when 9o the gore has been completed. The stocking is completed by bringing the edges of the blank together, then uniting them by sewing through, and, if necessary, reinforcing the seam by a tape f, Fig. 3, in the4 usual manner. 95

The effect of the gored portion is, so to say, to throw the parallel weft-threads of that part below the gore-the instep-at an acute angle to the weft-threads of the ankle portion, which latter, as seen, are at an angle to those 1o of the ankle part. Y

It will be seen that by my improved construction described thereis secured not only comparative simplicity and economy in the making of elastic stockings, but uniformity and a maximum of elasticity-only a single longitudinal seam being requiredwhich elasticity is for each part of the stocking when in use in the proper direetion-thatis to say, the draw of the weft-threads is always practically in a plane at right angles to the axis of the particular part of the foot which they embrace.

I remark that as the mode of making elastic stockings iswell known I have for perspicuity omitted showing the knitted threads and have shown or indicated in the drawings only the transverse rubber weft-threads.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent I 1. The integral blank for elastic stockings of the class recited, comprised of the leg and ankle portions having the transverse parallel rubber weft-threads, substantially at right angles to the axis of the blank; the opposite triangular or gored portions at the heel part, wherein the weft-threads are parallel with each other but at an angle to those of the said other parts, and the ,instep portions wherein the weft-threads are at an angle to those of the said gored portions and also at an angle to those of the ankle and leg portions of the blank, substantially as shown and described.

2. An elastic stocking of the class recited, having in the heel portion thereof a gore, the rubber weft-threads of which are parallel with each other, but at an angle to the weftthreads of the other parts of the stocking, and having also the instep portion whose weftthreadsare at an angle to those of said gore, and at an angle to those of the said other parts, whereby the draw on said weft-threads throughout the stocking is always practically in a plane at right angles to the axis of the particular part of the foot or leg which they embrace, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

y ARTHUR B. KENDRICK Witnesses:

JOSHUA PUsEY, WALTER C. PUsEY. 

